The present invention relates to a medical tube-connector device for connecting tubes forming a channel for a medical liquid, which is used for medical applications, particularly for peritoneal dialysis. Particularly, the present invention relates to a medical tube-connector device in which channel ends are not contaminated or damaged by fingers in connecting or disconnecting connectors and the connectors are connected and disconnected easily.
When peritoneal dialysis is operated, the inside of peritonea is filled with a dialysate having a concentration gradient with respect to a body fluid of a patient through a catheter introduced into the abdominal cavity passing through a abdominal wall of the patient. The peritonea of the patient function as a diaphragm, and toxin, a waste product, or the like inside the body of the patient is moved into the abdominal cavity. Then, the toxin, waste product, or the like inside the abdominal cavity is discharged to the outside of the body.
Concretely, extension tubes or the like that are connected to a dialysate bag, a drainage bag, and a catheter are connected to infuse a dialysate into the abdominal cavity and the dialysate is retained for a predetermined time (three to five hours). After that, a pooled liquid of toxin, waste products, or the like is discharged into the drainage bag. The dialysate is infused into the abdominal cavity of the patient through the tubes and the liquid of toxin, waste products, or the like also is discharged into the drainage bag through the tubes.
Thus, a twin bag system has been contrived, in which a dialysate bag and a drainage bag are connected with a Y-shaped connector or the like beforehand so that the patient can infuse the dialysate easily into the abdominal cavity or can discharge the pooled liquid easily.
However, while the dialysate is retained inside the abdominal cavity, it is more comfortable and preferable for a patient that the connected bags are disconnected from connectors for extension tubes compared to the case where the patient must carry such a dialysate bag and a drainage bag with him. In this case, when the connectors for the extension tubes are exposed to the air without having any protection, there is a fear that the connectors may be contaminated by bacteria or the like in the air. Therefore, it is desirable to cover the connectors with caps or the like. In the conventional twin bag system, caps mainly have been used for protecting the connectors from contamination.
However, in the case where liquids are replaced by a patient, the channel also is contaminated when the patient touches the connectors, the caps, or the like with his hands carelessly in attaching the caps to or detaching the caps from the connectors. As a result, the possibility that the inside of the abdominal cavity of the patient might be contaminated remains.
As a method for solving the above-mentioned problem, a structure having double walls formed at the connection ends of connectors to prevent fingers from touching the connector ends easily has been proposed as described in JP 5-31178 A. JP 8-000725 A discloses an automatic connection device for attaching and detaching a cap and connecting and disconnecting connectors automatically so that a patient can connect and disconnect the connectors without touching them directly with his hands.
However, even if such a double-wall structure as described in JP 5-31178 A was employed, it was not enough as a countermeasure against contamination. First, when connectors, or a connector and a cap are attached to or detached from each other, channel ends provided in the connectors are exposed to the outside air. Therefore, there was a possibility that the channel might be contaminated by floating fungus. Second, since the connectors are attached or detached by hands, it cannot be said that the open ends of the connectors are prevented perfectly from being touched by fingers. In other words, one of the connectors inevitably has a large external-wall diameter and therefore the possibility that the connectors might be touched by fingers still remains.
On the other hand, as described in JP8-000725 A, an apparatus of automating the attachment and detachment of a cap and the connection and disconnection of connectors is used in limited situations, since the apparatus has a complicated configuration and is expensive, and it is inconvenient for a patient to carry the apparatus with him all the time.
In the peritoneal dialysis, besides the contamination problem that might occur in attaching or detaching a cap or connectors as described above, there has been a problem of switching channels for infusing a fluid into and discharging a fluid from the abdominal cavity of a patient. That is to say, a switching device is required for switching channels easily without confusing the infusion of a dialysate and the discharge of a pooled fluid. Conventionally, the switching has been performed generally by a patient himself with his hands using a clamp. In view of the prevention of wrong operations, safety, or the like, however, various devices for controlling the switching have been contrived. For instance, JP 8-224300 A discloses a rotary controller as a device for controlling the flow of fluids. Further, JP 2-502882 A discloses a flow controller using a special three-way valve.
However, in the conventional method in which a patient controls the flow by himself using a clamp, there has been a possibility that switching failure causes the back flow of a fluid into his body or wasteful discharge of a dialysate into a drainage bag.
In addition, in a conventional channel-switching device, channels can be switched, but a patient is required to attach or detach a connector of a tube and a connector of a dialysate bag, or a connector and a cap to or from each other by himself with his hands. In this case, therefore, the possibility that the connectors or the cap might be contaminated by careless operations or mistakes by a patient himself still remains. Furthermore, since the cap also is replaced by a patient himself with his hands, there also has been a possibility that an unused cap might be contaminated at the time of the replacement.
The present invention aims to solve the aforementioned disadvantages in conventional techniques and to provide a medical tube-connector device having a configuration in which in order to prevent the contamination by fingers or wrong operations, which might occur in disconnecting or connecting connectors, caps are detached from or attached to the connectors without exposing channel ends provided in the connectors when the connectors are connected to or disconnected from each other.
Further, the present invention aims to provide a medical tube-connector device that enables the connection or disconnection of connectors accompanied with the detachment or attachment of caps to be operated easily without using special devices or tools, while keeping the channels of the connectors from being contaminated.
In addition, the present invention aims to provide a medical tube-connector device that can facilitate channel switching, can prevent possible contamination or wrong operations in connecting or disconnecting connectors, and enables a patient to replace caps in connecting and disconnecting the connectors without touching connection parts directly with his hands.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a medical tube-connector device of the present invention includes two connectors for connecting tubes and the two connectors can be connected to or disconnected from each other. The medical tube-connector device is provided with a first connector including a first connector body and a protective cap and a second connector including a second connector body and a guide cap. The first connector body has a channel extending through its inside and can be connected to a tube at one end of the channel. The protective cap can be attached to or detached from the first connector body for covering and sealing the other end of the channel in the state in which the protective cap has been attached to the first connector body. The second connector body has a channel extending through its inside and a concave part into which the protective cap of the first connector can be inserted. The second connector body can be connected to a tube at one end of the channel. The guide cap can be displaced with respect to the second connector body and is provided with a cover portion formed for covering and sealing the other end of the channel in the second connector body. The second connector body and the guide cap can be brought into a preparatory state or a connected state by their relative displacement. In the preparatory state, the concave part of the second connector body is open and the other end of the channel is sealed by the cover portion. In the connected state, the other end of the channel is open. By inserting the first connector with the protective cap attached into the concave part in the preparatory state and then bringing the second connector body and the guide cap into the connected state, the protective cap is moved while being retained in the concave part so as to be detached from the first connector body and at the same time the first connector body and the second connector body are connected, thus allowing their channels to communicate.
According to the aforementioned configuration, the detachment and attachment of the protective cap and the sealing and opening of the channel end of the second connector body can be carried out inside the connector device upon the operations for connecting and disconnecting the connectors. Therefore, the channels are not exposed to the outside air. Consequently, the channel ends of the connectors can be prevented from being contaminated by outside floating bacteria. Further, since the connectors are not connected and disconnected by hands, the fear that fingers might touch the channel ends can be solved. In addition, the connecting and disconnecting operations can be carried out merely by inserting the first connector into the second connector and rotating the second connector body without using special tools, which is very easy.
In the above-mentioned configuration, the second connector may have the following configuration. The second connector may include a casing having an annular shape and functioning as a guide cap and a rotor that is formed of a substantially cylindrical body mounted rotatably inside the casing and that functions as the second connector body. The casing includes, at its periphery: at least one inflow/outflow port for liquids, which can be connected to a tube; and an insertion opening into which the first connector can be inserted. The rotor includes: a fluid channel extending through the inside of the cylindrical body and forming inflow/outflow ports on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical body; and at least one cap receiving recess that is formed on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical body and that can receive a protective cap attached to the first connector. The rotor and the casing can be brought into a preparatory state or a connected state depending on their relative rotational positions. In the preparatory state, the insertion opening of the casing opposes the cap receiving recess in the rotor and thus the inflow/outflow ports of the rotor are sealed by the casing. In the connected state, the insertion opening of the casing opposes one of the inflow/outflow ports of the rotor, and an inflow/outflow port of the casing and the other inflow/outflow port of the rotor communicate with each other.
The medical tube-connector device with this configuration can be formed so that in the connected state, the first connector body is maintained by being fitted at a periphery of the rotor. This enables the first connector body to be maintained by the rotor reliably, thus preventing the tube from being detached or the like during a dialysis operation.
It is preferable that the protective cap can be detached from or attached to the first connector body by its sliding movement in the direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of the channel. This enables the operation for detaching and attaching the protective cap by the rotation of the rotor to be carried out easily.
It is preferable that the protective cap is attached to the first connector body through the fitting between a convex part with a T-shaped cross section provided in the protective cap and a concave part with a T-shaped cross section provided in the first connector body, and a convex part with the same T-shaped cross section as in the protective cap is provided at the periphery of the rotor except for the insertion opening. In this case, the protective cap can slide in the sideways direction easily and the protective cap and the first connector body are not detached easily in the channel direction. As the cross sectional shape of the cap, any cross sectional shapes can be used as long as the shapes have the same characteristics. For instance, the cross section of the cap may have a trapezoidal shape, a round shape, or an inverse triangular shape.
The second connector establishes an invention by itself, which is one of two connectors constituting a medical tube-connector device according to the present invention. A connector according to the present invention includes a casing and a rotor. The casing has an annular shape and includes, at its periphery, at least one inflow/outflow port for liquids, which can be connected to a tube, and an insertion opening into which the other connector can be inserted together with a protective cap for sealing an opening of the other connector. The rotor is formed of a substantially cylindrical body mounted rotatably inside the casing. The rotor includes: a fluid channel extending through the inside of the cylindrical body and forming inflow/outflow ports on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical body; and at least one cap receiving recess that is formed on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical body and that can receive the protective cap for sealing the opening of the other connector. The rotor and the casing can be brought into a preparatory state or a connected state depending on their relative rotational positions. In the preparatory state, the insertion opening of the casing opposes the cap receiving recess in the rotor and thus the inflow/outflow ports in the rotor are sealed by the casing. In the connected state, the insertion opening of the casing opposes one of the inflow/outflow ports of the rotor, and the inflow/outflow port of the casing and the other inflow/outflow port of the rotor communicate with each other.
Preferably, this connector is formed so that the rotor includes at least two cap receiving recesses and the insertion opening of the casing can oppose any of the cap receiving recesses by the relative rotational movement between the rotor and the casing. According to this, a configuration for replacing the protective cap automatically by rotation can be obtained. In this case, any configuration may be employed as long as an unused cap can be supplied. Therefore, the connector may have a configuration in which an unused cap may have been supplied from the beginning or an unused cap can be replenished later.
Further, the following configuration also may be employed. Unused protective caps are supplied to the cap receiving recesses while at least one cap receiving recess is kept empty and the rotor is rotated from the state in which the rotor is connected with the other connector, to have the positional relationship in which the insertion opening of the casing opposes any one of the cap receiving recesses in which the unused protective caps have been supplied, thus attaching an unused protective cap to the other connector. In this case, a patient can replace caps without touching connection parts directly with his hands in detaching and attaching the caps, thus eliminating the possibility that the patient touches the connectors, the caps, or the like carelessly with his hands to cause the contamination of the channel.
The following configuration also can be employed. The casing has at least two of the inflow/outflow ports for liquids, one of the inflow/outflow ports communicates selectively with one of the inflow/outflow ports of the rotor by the rotational movement of the rotor, and at the same time, the other inflow/outflow port of the rotor opposes the insertion opening of the casing. According to this configuration, a connector in which channels can be switched easily can be obtained.
In this configuration, it is preferable that the casing has two of the inflow/outflow ports for liquids, and the inflow/outflow ports and the insertion opening are spaced substantially at 120 degrees at the periphery of the casing. This enables channels to be switched easily in three directions without having a complicated mechanism such as a three-way valve.
The first connector as one of connectors constituting a medical tube-connector device according to the present invention establishes an invention by itself. That is, a connector according to the present invention includes: a connector body that is attached to an end of a tube and has a through hole that communicates with the tube and a protective cap that is attached to the connector body and seals an opening of the connector body. The connector has a configuration in which the protective cap is detached from or attached to the connector body by being slid in the direction substantially orthogonal to the axial direction of the through hole. This configuration can prevent the channel end from being contaminated and can facilitate the connection operation.
It is preferred to employ the configuration in which the protective cap has a convex part with a T-shaped cross section, the connector body has a concave part with a T-shaped cross section, and the protective cap and the connector body are coupled by the fitting between the convex part and the concave part. According to this configuration, the protective cap can slide in the sideways direction easily and a form in which the protective cap and the connector body are not separated easily in the direction of the channel can be achieved. In this case, any shapes can be used as the cross sectional shape of the cap as long as the shapes have the same characteristics. For instance, a trapezoidal shape, a round shape, or an inverse triangular shape can be applied.
The medical tube-connector device with the configuration described first can be formed so that the protective cap is attached to the first connector body and at the same time the channel end of the second connector body is sealed by the cover portion by relatively displacing the second connector body and the guide cap from the connected state and thus restoring them into the preparatory state.
Preferably, the medical tube-connector device with the configuration described first is formed so that in the connected state, the guide cap can be detached from the second connector body in a state where the first connector body and the second connector body are maintained in a coupled state.
In this configuration, preferably a receiving part capable of receiving the protective cap is formed in the guide cap adjacent to the place where the first connector is inserted, and in the connected state, the protective cap that has been moved while having been maintained in the concave part is received and maintained in the receiving part. This configuration is useful particularly when the guide cap is detached from the second connector body in employing the route in which the preparatory state is restored directly from the connected state (i.e. the preparatory statexe2x86x92the connected statexe2x86x92the preparatory state). When it is not necessary to detach the guide cap after both the connectors have been connected, a means for maintaining the protective cap is not particularly necessary to be provided.
The first connector and the second connector can be formed so as to maintain the connected state against a pulling force in the direction of the channel and so as to be disconnectable by their sliding movements with respect to each other in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the channel.
Preferably, the medical tube-connector device with the configuration described first is constructed so that: the protective cap can be attached to or detached from the first connector body by its sliding movement along a circular arc; the second connector body and the guide cap can be displaced relatively by their sliding movements along a circular arc; the circular arc corresponding to the sliding face for the sliding movement between the first connector body and the protective cap has the same radius as that of the circular arc corresponding to the sliding face for the sliding movements between the second connector body and the guide cap; and the sliding face between the first connector body and the protective cap and the sliding face between the second connector body and the guide cap are arranged on the same circular arc when the first connector is inserted into the concave part from the protective cap side in the preparatory state. Further preferably, the medical tube-connector device is formed so that the center of the circular arc corresponding to the sliding face between the second connector body and the guide cap is positioned inside the second connector body. According to these configurations, since the attachment and detachment are carried out by the rotation, a force can be applied easily, thus facilitating the operation.
Moreover, in the above-mentioned configuration, it is preferable that: the first connector body has any one of a concave engagement part and a convex engagement part, each of which has a T-shaped cross section orthogonal to a direction of its sliding movement; the protective cap has the other one of the concave engagement part and the convex engagement part; the concave engagement part and the convex engagement part are fitted to each other to lead the sliding movements of the first connector body and the protective cap; and by the fitting, the protective cap is maintained in the first connector body. This configuration ensures the engagement of the protective cap with the first connector body and also facilitates the detachment and attachment of the protective cap.
Further, preferably, the second connector body has the convex engagement part with the T-shaped cross section when the first connector body has the concave engagement part with the T-shaped cross section, and the second connector body has the concave engagement part with the T-shaped cross section when the first connector body has the convex engagement, the convex and concave engagement parts of the protective cap and the second connector body being arranged on the same circular arc when the protective cap is inserted into the concave engagement part in the preparatory state, and the convex and concave engagement parts of the first connector body and the second connector body are fitted in the connected state, thus coupling the first connector body and the second connector body. According to this configuration, in connecting the connectors, the second connector body is fitted to the first connector body instead of the detached protective cap, and therefore the engagement structure of the both is very simple.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the guide gap has a wall for covering the protective cap in the connected state. According to this configuration, the protective cap can be protected excellently when the connectors are connected.
Preferably, the guide cap has a handle extending along the inserted first connector body. When the second connector body is rotated with the first connector body being held together with the handle, the connection between the first connector body and the second connector body can be operated stably and easily.
Next, another type of invention of the second connector constituting the medical tube-connector device according to the present invention will be described. A connector according to the present invention includes a connector body and a guide cap. The connector body includes a channel extending through its inside and a concave part into which a protective cap for sealing an opening of the other connector can be inserted. The connector body can be connected to a tube at one end of the channel. The guide cap can be displaced with respect to the connector body and is provided with a cover portion for covering and sealing the other end of the channel of the connector body. The connector body and the guide cap can be brought into a preparatory state or a connected state by their relative displacement. In the preparatory state, the concave part of the connector body is open and the other end of the channel is sealed by the cover portion. In the connected state, the other end of the channel is open.
In addition, a cap for replacement according to the present invention is formed by the combination of the guide cap and the protective cap that are included in a medical tube-connector device according to the present invention. The cap for replacement of the present invention includes: the guide cap provided with a cover portion that can cover and seal the other end of the channel of the second connector body, an opening adjacent to the cover portion, and a receiving part that is adjacent to the opening and that can receive the protective cap; and the protective cap received in the receiving part of the guide cap.